How to run station rotations for groups
Treat stations as destinations rather than interchangeable groups. Plan the full rotation, choose exact, minimum, or maximum visit counts, and inspect any missed target before running the activity.
Guide visual
Every activity, one complete rotation
People move through named stations with explicit visit targets.
Model destinations, not just changing groups
In a normal group rotation, Group 1 and Group 2 may be interchangeable. A station rotation is different: the Research Lab, Design Studio, Build Bench, and Reflection Table each deliver a distinct activity. A participant’s history with the destination matters even when the people at that destination change.
In GroupMixer, groups represent the stations and sessions represent the rotation periods. Group Visits then describes how often selected people should be assigned to selected stations across those periods.
Choose the visit target that matches the activity
Build the station rotation
Name the stations
Use activity names rather than generic group numbers. The roster should be usable without a separate key that translates Group 1 into a room or task.
Set capacity for each station
Include equipment, room, and facilitation limits. If a facilitator is represented as a participant fixed to a station, that person also occupies a place unless the capacity is increased.
Create every rotation period
One session represents one period. Build the complete sequence together so visit history is evaluated across the full activity.
Define who the target covers
Select the rotating participants and the relevant stations. Exclude stationary facilitators; otherwise an all-people target asks them to rotate too.
Choose bounds and scoring
Use exact, minimum, or maximum visits deliberately. Weight controls the relative importance of a miss; linear scoring charges in proportion to the bound distance, while squared scoring makes larger misses increasingly expensive.
Generate and inspect deviations
A schedule can be valid while missing a weighted visit target. Review the Group Visits card before publishing instead of assuming every requested stop was achieved.
Read missed visits at the level where they occurred
- Your groups shows the operational rotation: who attends each station in each period, the assigned count, and the station capacity.
- The Group Visits card reports raw bound deviations: participant, station or station set, actual count, requested bounds, and the configured session scope. Weight and linear-versus-squared scoring affect optimization but are not expanded into per-deviation costs there.
- A Group Visits card with “No violations” means the configured visit targets were met. It does not prove that transitions are physically practical or that every activity received the right mix of participants.
- The Pair Meeting Matrix answers a different question: whether the same people kept meeting while they rotated. Station coverage can be perfect even when peer contact variety is poor.
- After an absence or station closure, the previous result describes the old plan. A remaining-period solve needs outstanding visit targets derived from completed periods; simply applying exact-once again can send people back to stations they already visited.
Build and review the rotation in GroupMixer
Product routes open the current scenario. The Help topic explains every Group Visits control; the example handoff below creates a separate scenario.
Worked example: four classroom activity stations
Twenty-four students rotate through four stations over four periods. Every station holds six students, and one per-station Group Visits target asks every student to visit every activity exactly once.
Setup facts
- 24 students
- 4 named stations with capacity 6
- 4 rotation periods
- exactly 1 visit per student per station
Review the result
- For this feasible example, the Group Visits card should report “No violations” when all ninety-six student-to-station visits are covered.
- Each session roster should contain six students at every station.
- The pair matrix may still show repeated classmates because station coverage and contact variety are separate goals.
Open the complete station-rotation example
Group Visits is an advanced Scenario Editor control, not a Quick Setup option. This action creates a separate saved scenario with 24 students, four named stations, four periods, and an exact-once visit target, then opens that target for inspection.
Your current scenario is not overwritten.